Kako to Mirai (Reupload)
by LabraBell
Summary: With Hinata at his side and the Hokage's seat in mind, Naruto powers through his problems and climbs the ranks to become one of the strongest shinobi around. But he stands in the shadow's grasp. Plagued with visions of a life he hasn't yet lived, he must make a critical decision: One that may well change the course of time itself.
1. Chapter 1

**After giving it some thought, I figured that the way this chapter was previously written just wasn't right. It was rushed, it had minimal detail and there were so many plot holes it looked more like a sieve than a story. There has also been a lot of changes made to the plot in itself, because the previous plotline was long and boring to read as well as write.**

 **The following paragraph (in the square brackets) contains some content from the version of KtM that was written previously. If you don't want spoilers feel free to skip. If you came here because of the note in Ch2 this explains the differences between what this chapter was before and what it is now.**

 **[Naruto's age has been upped to age 5 instead of 4 in this revision. This is to make his intelligence at least slightly more believable. Most of the content regarding his time outside of the orphanage has also been cut back, and instead of having a detailed storyline for the 3 weeks (Yes, this was the intended length in the first place but we didn't get that far) that he was living rough, there will be a timeskip. Any other important plot advancements during this period will be revisited in flashbacks and memories to prevent information being lost. This chapter aims to explain the primary story of the Kyuubi attack, the strange lightning bolt, some of Naruto's exile and his meeting with Hinata. The meeting has been brought forwards too.]**

 **Some of the previous A/N has been retained for information purposes.**

 **This story has been re-uploaded, in the hopes that doing so will give this story a second chance. We made a stupid mistake in the third chapter of KtM, which has ruined its reputation and we might as well have just thrown it to the wolves there and then. But it's a great story, and we've both put so much time into making it work thus far, so we couldn't just leave it to die. So here it is, the second attempt. The original author's notes have been left in place on the first three chapters. - LabraBell.**

 **Welcome to my second fanfiction, Kako to Mirai. Well, it's my third if you count Dealing with It, but we don't talk about DwI. This time I haven't written it alone. This story comes from Shadow-Hunter-104, who pointed me to the concept a few days ago. I intend to put a lot more effort into this one, as it's not only my reputation laying on it being a good fic :P**

 **As far as writing goes, it has mostly been that Shadow is the brains of the story, coming up with most of the concepts and discussing reasons that it would/wouldn't work with me at length. I have added concepts to it too, but it's primarily been me listening to Shadow. As far as the writing goes though, Shadow pretty much wrote a baseline version of this chapter, then I took it and tweaked it to make it slightly better to read, and to have slightly more content. This is for certain a two-man task, and Shadow at least deserves equal praise for his work with me on this fic, if not more, being the original creator.**

 **Rated M for blood, gore and potential lemons.**

* * *

 **Prologue**

Hiruzen trudged through the rubble strewn around the street. It was heartbreaking, to see so many lives lost, and so many homes destroyed in the chaos that had ensued that night. It would take a long time for Konoha to recover from such a devastating blow, especially so soon after the war too. But they would pull through. They always did. After all, the citizens of Konoha had The Will of Fire - the determination to love, cherish and protect one another as family.

But he still couldn't suppress a dismayed sigh as he looked around him. Less than 24 hours ago, Hiruzen had been strolling down this very street with the Yondaime; discussing the status of his heavily pregnant wife Kushina. Minato had been stressed about how she'd take the birth, so he had asked Hiruzen about how his own son had been born. They'd chatted and laughed as they waved to adoring civilians that passed them, blissfully unaware of the night that was to come.

Now Minato and Kushina were dead. And into their newborn son had been sealed the chakra demon that had killed his parents. The Kyuubi.

Hiruzen had left baby Naruto in the hands of Mikoto Uchiha. She had been one of Kushina's closest friends, so he knew that he could trust her. His reasoning was that the chaos and noise was no place for a baby; but in reality he just couldn't do his job as the hokage when he had a constant reminder of the surrogate son he'd lost.

The hokage was a pillar of hope. With the newly instated Yondaime no longer around, it was up to Hiruzen to ensure that everyone maintained good morale. It wouldn't do to show negative emotions in front of the population. No, he would bury those feelings until he was alone.

This intense foreboding really wouldn't leave him though.

Before he knew it, Sarutobi found himself trudging down the path towards the tent where the attack had all begun. The horrible feeling that was pooling in the pit of his stomach increased with every step he took, churning and weaving within him like a jar full of worms.

A figure came into view as he approached. Though it was posing no threat, the sandaime found himself tensing for a moment, before realising that it was in fact his own teenage son Asuma, who was kneeling on the ground with his head lowered slightly. In his hands was a broken, blood-splattered ANBU mask, which had been split down the middle with what was undeniably a sword slash. But the design of the mask was what caused Sarutobi's blood to run cold.

There was no mistaking who that mask belonged to.

All of the carefully bottled emotions burst forth in waves as the hokage fell to his knees beside his son. He suddenly began to look much more like his age as he allowed tears to roll down his cheeks, muttering a single word.

"Biwako…"

 _'_ _It's really stormy out tonight._ _'_ Mikoto remarked to herself, as she stared out into the darkened Uchiha compound. A combination of fog and smoke from the recent battle made brought visibility to a minimum; only the occasional flickers of lightning accompanying the driving rain was the only light that could penetrate the blanket of grey. But visibility was of no issue to the Uchiha, who simply activated their sharingan and continued to clear rubble.

No doubt the extended use of the Sharingan would cause a number of headaches tomorrow. But that was tomorrow's problem for the shinobi, who were currently more interested in keeping their compound spotless and clean. It was a matter of pride for the Uchihas to appear smart and well-groomed, so despite the compound being largely untouched the utmost care was being taken to retain that idea.

Mikoto thought it was rather selfish of the Uchiha. Konoha had been hit by a devastating attack, courtesy of the Kyuubi. Their compound had been effectively untouched, and yet they still focused their work on perfection rather than helping the village-wide effort to rebuild houses for the homeless civilians.

Not that she would complain about it. Mikoto was happy with the life she had; with a loving husband and two talented children, being the matriarch of the Uchiha clan. And she wasn't willing to give that up for anything.

At present she was sitting in the window of her home, watching the faint shadows of movement as the Uchiha milled around the compound. Her eyes were occasionally flickering towards a small cot in the corner of the room, inside of which were two tiny children. The first bore a resemblance to herself, while the other was much smaller; sporting blonde hair and prominent whisker marks on his cheeks. They were Sasuke Uchiha and Naruto Uzumaki - Mikoto's son and her best friend's newborn son.

It saddened Mikoto to know that Naruto would grow up without the love of a parent. And it was even more saddening that her best friend had lost her life during the battle with the Kyuubi.

The Uchiha was so lost in her musings that she failed to notice the strange flicker of lightning that forked down from the sky in that very moment. It was lavender purple, laced with streaks of bright orange; and it was unlike any lightning bolt that had been seen before. The bolt split into two arcs as it neared the village, one taking on a more prominent orange colour and the other retaining its lavender.

Few eyewitnesses saw the bolt that night. But those that did chose not to speak of it, even when they had grown old and grey. Because they truly believed that it had been simply a figment of their imagination. A hallucination brought on by the immense mental fatigue of the Kyuubi's attack.

Those that did see it though, could have sworn that it split cleanly into two parts, very much unlike a normal bolt of lightning. One of them, the purple one, arced down towards the Hyuuga compound; racing down seemingly through the open window of one house, before hitting the bloated stomach of a Hyuuga woman who was snoozing lightly in an armchair. The lightning bolt sent a shock of pain through her abdomen, startling her awake. She put her hand on her bump, assuming that the pain was her unborn child kicking out, before putting her head back and falling back to sleep once more. The orange bolt however, travelled in a similar fashion to the Uchiha compound; making contact with Young Naruto's left shoulder, leaving a tiny lightning shaped mark that for all the world looked like nothing more than a birthmark.

But it was a painful shock. One which startled the tiny boy, waking him up and causing him to let out a high pitched wail. This in turn roused both Sasuke and Mikoto from their own stupors, the former also beginning to cry as the latter shook her head and rushed to tend to them.

But unbeknownst to those who witnessed the strange scene, the bolts were so much more than a simple hallucination. They were the beginning of a bond that would defy all boundaries. A connection that would last for a lifetime.

...And perhaps even longer than that.

* * *

 **Chapter 1**

[FIVE YEARS LATER]

Naruto supposed he should have expected this. After all, everyone at the orphanage seemed to hate him. Of course it would only be a matter of time before they kicked him out.

It had happened when yet another fight had broken out in his dormitory that morning. The boy in the bunk above him had been picking on him again, whispering nasty things in his ear when the matron wasn't looking. Naruto had tried to ignore the insults as much as he could, but when the other boy started to turn to much more personal insults, he'd ended up losing his temper and turning on him, fists flailing. The other boy was older and more experienced than Naruto was at fighting, so when the matron finally pulled the two of them apart, the blond was left with a broken nose and a multitude of bruises across his face, while the other boy had little more than a split lip.

But by the time Naruto had been taken to another room, his wounds had almost completely healed; and so he was blamed for "attacking his defenceless bunkmate."

Even if the matron had seen the fight take place, even if she'd heard everything the other boy was saying, she would still have blamed him. Everyone always does. Naruto was always given less food than anyone else. Less playtime. And no one wanted to adopt him, either. Almost every single one of his peers had been asked to stay at a home for a few days, to see if the family wanted to adopt them. Almost everyone, except him.

The matron was shouting at him again. Calling him lots of horrible names and making hurtful remarks about his person. This wasn't out of the ordinary, but this time she was so much more harsh with her words, and accompanied each insult with a kick aimed at his backside. She ridiculed him for his tears too, after a particularly bad remark about his parents brought a multitude of emotions welling to the surface.

She'd taken him to a different place this time. Instead of the usual place, which consisted of a dark room where he would be locked for hours on end, he was taken to the lobby. And after a final round of horrible words and kicks to the backside, he was pushed out of the front door.

"I'm sick and tired of you causing trouble here," The matron had finished, with a horrible sneer. "I don't want to see your face again, brat!"

Then she had slammed the door, and Naruto was alone.

Naruto was kind of happy to be free from that horrible place. In all honesty he couldn't remember a time when he'd been allowed to roam outside without being supervised. But even through this momentary happiness, there was a little voice of reason inside of him that was expressing its concern. Where would he sleep tonight? Where would he find food?

For two hours Naruto wandered around the village, his mind frozen in a state of shock. He had no idea what to do next, so he had just allowed his feet to take him wherever. His thoughts had drifted towards memories of his time at the orphanage, and for the most part he allowed them to swim in and out of focus, being that he didn't know what else to think about anyway.

For as long as he could remember, Naruto's only positive interaction had happened once a month, with a kind old man who came to visit him. He always brought the boy some snacks to eat, some books to read, even a few toys to play with. He liked it when the old man came, because the matrons were much nicer to him while he was around.

As far as Naruto could tell, the old man's name was something like "Hockagai." He'd always just called him 'Jiji' (Old man), so he never asked if that was true. Perhaps Jiji would help him out. He'd been very kind to him already, it stood a chance that he would do so.

But every time Naruto approached someone, asking for Hockagai, he always received more or less the same response.

"Hockagai doesn't want to see you, Kyu-teme. Stay away from him."

Either that or they would just make a 'tch' noise, and turn away from him.

Naruto didn't understand why they hated him so much. He hadn't done anything to deserve it, had he?

He was pulled from his thoughts before he could answer that question, by a strange noise nearby. Pausing in his tracks, he raised his head and listened carefully to work out what it was.

"Stop!"

There was the noise again. It sounded like a young girl, and it wasn't far away from where Naruto was standing. He approached the area slowly, all thoughts of his current situation forgotten as he took in the scene before him. A young girl around his age was stuttering in fear, looking up at the three older boys towering over her. They must have been 3 or 4 years older than her.

The first boy, on the left of the three, spoke up just as Naruto crouched behind a tree. He had long black hair. "Considering you're the Hyuuga heir, you're one weak kid!"

The boy on the right, with short sandy coloured hair, smiled malevolently at this. "Your stupid clan thinks they're so much better than us!" he jeered, cracking his knuckles menacingly.

The two of them stepped forwards as the third boy, clearly the leader of the three, muttered an order to them. He was also black haired, but with a hint of brown towards the end of each lock. Each boy took one of the young girl's arms and held her in a standing position, as the leader advanced.

"I think it's time we teach this little brat a lesson, don't you boys?" he asked, earning two roars of agreement in response. He took one more step forwards, raising his fist and cocking it back.

Naruto knew he had to do something. The young girl reminded him so much of his own struggles in the orphanage, that he found himself moving before he even realised what he was doing. He jumped from behind the tree, running towards the group as fast as he could. The girl had her back to him, and so did the two restraining her, so he had the element of surprise.

Using a sizeable rock in his path to gain more height, Naruto jumped as high as he could, right at the leader. Because the girl was so much smaller than the rest of them she was completely unharmed as he sailed straight over her head, and landed a solid punch directly to the leader's nose. Overbalanced by the sudden momentum, the two of them fell back, straight into a muddy puddle. A snap could be heard as Naruto's fist made contact, and the boy's face was obscured by the stream of blood that burst forth from his nose.

The other two bullies were startled by the sudden change of events, and dropped the girl in favour of dragging the blond away from their leader and throwing him to the ground. The poor girl could only watch as Naruto was overpowered and beaten within an inch of his life, the bullies only stopping when his groans of pain had ceased.

They began to panic as the adrenaline had worn off, and the gravity of what they'd done had sunk in. If this boy died they could be arrested!

The black haired boy was the first to make a move, starting to run away from the scene before he was caught by the sandy boy, "Wait, what about the Hyuuga? Weren't we going to teach her a lesson?"

But the boy responded in fear, stating that they might be found if they stayed around any longer. Sandy nodded thoughtfully, before turning to ask the leader, who still hadn't moved. He was staring down at Naruto's near-lifeless body, a look of extreme contempt on his face.

"You're lucky, Hyuuga. If your boyfriend hadn't come to save you, you'd look like that by now."

He turned, sprinting off into the treeline. He was followed by the black haired boy, but sandy boy waited for a moment longer before leaving. He bent down, whispering harshly into the girl's ear.

"Next time you won't be so lucky."

Naruto hadn't lost consciousness like she'd previously thought, but he was very close to doing so. She'd seen this near-unconscious state when her father had once used the caged bird seal on a branch member for too long.

"A-are you okay?"

It was a stupid question, but she didn't know what else to say.

She watched concernedly as the boy opened his eyes. One of them was filled with blood, rendering him half-blind, and the skin around it was puffy and bruised. Within a few minutes it would be swollen shut.

The rest of his face was obscured by blood and bruises too; but despite the pain he was in he smiled at her concerned look.

"Don't worry about me, I heal easily." He replied, looking her in the eye with some concern of his own. "You're bleeding too."

And so she was. When Naruto had saved her, she'd fallen down, hitting her head slightly as she did. She hadn't lost consciousness but there was certainly a headache forming now.

"I'm Naruto." He said, after she had put a leaf on her cut to stop the bleeding.

"H-Hinata." She stuttered.

"Hahinata?" he asked slowly, intrigued by the name. "I like your eyes."

"N-no, it's Hinata." The Hyuuga responded quickly, before freezing as his comment registered in her mind. She didn't like her eyes, because everyone always avoided her because of them. But this boy thought they were beautiful, and that made her feel really happy.

A heavy blush crept up her neck, as she looked into Naruto's one unobstructed eye. The heat intensified as she realised how intense his gaze was, despite his injured state.

"Y-your eye, it's a-amazing too." Hinata muttered, shocked at her own courage. "It's like a de-deep ocean."

But Naruto didn't hear, as his oceanic eye had drifted shut, and he finally lost consciousness.

He looked so peaceful. Hinata wanted to stay where she was all day, looking after her hero. But less than a minute after Naruto had stilled, an adult Hyuuga came running through the treeline, breathing a sigh of relief when he saw her.

This was Hito Hyuuga, a chuunin who had been assigned by her father to babysit her. And by the looks of it he was very angry.

"Hinata! What are you doing, stupid girl?" He growled, shooting a look of contempt at the comatose boy. "You are to stay away from _That Boy_. He doesn't deserve friends."

"B-but.. He saved me…" She tried to answer, but Hito cut over her, grabbing her roughly by the arm and dragging her away.

"You're injured! Did he do that? I bet he did. Just wait until your father hears about this!"

The last thing Hinata saw before she was dragged out of the small forest, was Naruto's mop of blond hair, which was laced with red from all the blood.

' _I want to see him again_ ' Hinata mused, as she ignored Hito's ranting.

It was like she had known Naruto all her life, and yet she'd never met him until that day. One thing she knew though, was that she would never forget Naruto.


	2. Chapter 2

**IMPORTANT! PLEASE READ!**

 **If you have already read chapter 1 before 25/02/2019, then you need to read it again. A lot of changes have been made to the plot line, and so ch1 is very different to how it used to be.**

 **If you have read chapter 1 on or after 25/02/2019 however, then you're free to continue reading. Thanks - LBell**

 **REVIEWS**

 **NaruHinaF & Rose Tiger & Oshietenaruto - Thank you. It's nice to know you like it. It's been improved again since your review though, so I wonder if you'll be able to say the same again? :3**

 **Also Oshietenaruto - The plot was originally designed to have several long chapters detailing Naruto and Hinata's antics within the three weeks that he had no home. But after a lot of consideration it was decided that it would be much better if there were more plot advancements than the "Few and far between" approach we were planning to take. This change has been for a number of reasons, but is primarily due to the fact that I was really struggling to come up with anything that was worth putting into the story in the first place. I should imagine it would have been just as monotonous to read as it was to write, and as such the decision was made to move it along a bit.**

 **Any plot advancements that would have been made in the original story will still be made in this one; but they will happen at different times and with slightly different outcomes. This new plot structure will make improvements to lots of different areas.**

* * *

 **Chapter 2**

[3 weeks later]

"Ayame, would you mind closing for the night please? I have something to do before I get home."

The teenager gave only a nod and a hum in response; most of her thoughts being trained on a poster in her hands. Teuchi simply received the nod with a raised eyebrow, before leaving to do whatever he needed to. She had been given the poster earlier that day by an official-looking shinobi, who had presumably been ordered to deliver them to each commercial establishment in the area.

For some reason the poster had caught her attention in more ways than one, but she just couldn't understand why.

With a sigh, Ayame finally put the piece of paper back in its advertisement slot, before busying herself with shutting down the small kitchen that she worked in. It didn't take long, and soon she found herself rolling down the shutters of their small ramen stand. It was mindless work, closing up. But someone had to do it, and she was just grateful that her father trusted her enough to do it by herself.

She stole one last glance at the poster, now sitting in a stand on the serving bar, before turning around, stepping out of the stand and locking the door behind her. With that done, Ayame began the short five minute walk towards her home.

After a recent spate of burglaries and thefts, most shops and restaurants had put measures into place to prevent people from accessing their goods. These measures were varied, ranging from simple detection seals to outright booby traps. And for the most part they seemed to be working. Despite Teuchi's claims that they were far too small an establishment to be robbed, Ayame had insisted on talking to a sealing expert she knew, and for a mates rates deal she was given a simple detection seal, which silently activated when a foreign chakra was detected during closing hours; responding to a hidden seal on her forearm. The seal on her arm would stay invisible for the most part, but would heat up and become visible when an intruder was detected. She had insisted that Teuchi get one of his own response seals too, in case she was away at the time.

She had also put a small amount of her spare time into some taijutsu training,and even found that she had enough chakra to do some simple techniques, too.

But even with all the effort she put into it, a small part of Ayame never expected to feel that detector seal heat up. So when it did, during her five minute walk, it's safe to say she was rather surprised. Nonetheless, she still turned tail and began to sprint back towards the stand. That ramen stop might be old and small, but it was still their family business. And she'd be damned if she let anyone near that business.

* * *

Naruto smiled to himself as he jumped through the tiny window. It was just so easy!

As of late, alarm systems and the like had been extremely popular among the shops and restaurants that Naruto liked to "frequent." 90% of the places he liked to enter had now been protected, and so he was no longer able to get into them. His response had been to target smaller companies, that likely would not (Or could not) spend money on fancy systems.

It didn't seem like there was too much to offer here. A few massive bags of flour and boxes of eggs, some liquid in a box called "stock," and a few boxes stacked with meats and vegetables.

At least the meats would be good for a couple of days. Once he cooked them he could potentially dry them into jerky too; they'd last a while longer. But he'd have to get the recipe right.

The boy was so busy deliberating over what to take, that he failed to hear the key slowly turning in the lock of the door. He failed to see Ayame open the door a crack, aiming for the element of surprise, before stopping in her tracks as she realised who was standing in her father's kitchen.

But what he did notice, however, was a poster stand that he had accidentally knocked to the ground in his haste. A poster stand that contained a missing person's report.

And on that missing person's report was his name and face.

* * *

There was no doubt about it. This was the boy from the poster - Naruto Uzumaki. He was considerably more dirty and dishevelled in real life, but those eyes and that hair were an unmistakable combo.

It was seeing Naruto in real life that sparked an extremely vibrant memory for the teen.

"obasan!" She called happily, as she ran to catch up with her adoptive aunt. "Why is your stomach so big?"

The woman in question simply smiled as the ten year old looked up at her quizzically. She bent down as best she could despite her bloated stomach, and patted Ayame on the head. She had just opened her mouth to speak when Teuchi came into view, huffing and trying to catch his breath as he finally caught up with his hyperactive daughter.

"Ayame! Don't be so rude!" He chastised, between deep breaths.

The woman smiled once more, reassuring Teuchi that it was okay; kids are allowed to be curious after all.

"There's a little boy growing in my stomach." She said softly, now looking to Ayame. "He's going to grow up to be big and strong, just like me!"

Naturally she was confused, having not yet received the "birds and bees" talk. But a simple sentence from Teuchi that he'd explain later seemed to sate her curiosity for now.

"Soo… what's his name?"

The gentle smile grew wider, as a look somewhat akin to pride flitted across her face.

"His name? Why, it's Naruto!"

Now that she looked at him, Ayame could see the resemblance. He had his mother's chin. The shape of his eyes too, they were the same. But who, she wondered, gave him the blue eyes and the bright blonde hair?

The question had answered itself before she had even finished thinking it. There was only one person who had eyes and hair like that, and even though she had only been ten at the time of his death, it was pretty obvious just who it was.

But this was no time to consider the boy's heritage; Ayame had slightly more pressing matters to think about.

In the time that she had spent thinking, Naruto had walked slowly towards the poster, and was inspecting it with a shocked look on his face. Taking advantage of the pause, Ayame crept into the stand, closing the door behind her with a click. The noise alerted young Naruto, who whirled around quick as a flash, fear evident across his face. He backed away slowly into the of the room, shaking as Ayame advanced.

"Would you like a bowl of ramen, Naruto?" She asked, with as kind a smile as she could muster. It must have worked, as she could see the boy visibly deflate as it registered that she meant no harm. She supposed the fact that she was younger and therefore smaller than most of the people he'd talk to probably helped too.

"Y-yes, please." he responded, offering a small smile.

* * *

"Here you go," Ayame smiled, as she placed a bowl down in front of him. She sat down with her own bowl beside him, and watched for a moment as he stared at the chopsticks before him.

She could see that Naruto had not used chopsticks before; so she unwrapped her own and talked him through. It took him several attempts, but eventually he'd got it down and began eating in silence. Ayame had long since finished her meal, and excused herself for a moment on the premise that she needed to use the toilet.

As she'd expected, Teuchi was waiting outside the door for her, tactfully remaining out of the situation until she could come back with a report.

"Who is it?" He asked quickly, having only been able to gauge that there wasn't any immediate danger. There was a deep frown upon his face as he recognised the sense of shock in his daughter's features.

Ayame answered him quickly, before he could jump to conclusions. She knew what had to be done and any longer conversations could wait until later.

"It's the missing boy. From that poster we got today." She began. "You need to get the hokage, as quick as you can. I'm going to keep him company until you get here, alright?"

Understanding the urgency of the situation, Teuchi simply nodded before jogging away, towards the office. Ayame stood for a moment, steeling her nerves, before entering the stand once more.

"Sorry about that, I had to run back home as our toilet needs repairing." She said, before sitting down beside him once more. It didn't escape her notice that the boy flinched marginally as she raised a hand to take his now-empty bowl.

"So… how come someone like you is in this situation?"

Naruto lowered his head, thinking about everything that had happened in the past three weeks. It felt like only a few days, but the newspapers he'd scrounged out of trash cans had told him otherwise.

"It's a long story" He said simply.

Ayame frowned at this, as she placed a second bowl of ramen before him.

"Well don't worry, I've got plenty of time."

The boy nodded, muttering his thanks for the food. And little by little, he began to tell his story.

"I got kicked out of the orphanage 3 weeks ago." He started, speaking between bites. "The boy in the bed above me was being horrible about my family. He said nobody wanted to adopt me because I was ugly and stupid.

"We ended up in a big fight. I only hurt him a little bit, but he really hurt me. I had blood all on my face and I think my nose broke. But because I heal quickly there was just a bit of blood on my face after. The matron blamed me for the fight, called me lots of horrible names I don't understand. And she was kicking me too. She made fun of me for crying when she said my parents probably committed suicide because of me."

He paused for a moment, as tears threatened to break the surface again. Ayame couldn't help but put a comforting hand on his shoulder; slightly regretting it when he flinched once more.

"She kicked me out after that. So I was stuck on my own.

"There was a nice old man who visited me sometimes. He brought food and toys but the other people stole them. Jiji brought books too, and they weren't stolen because they thought they were boring. His name is Hockagai. I asked some people about him but they said that he doesn't want to see me. I just walked around for a long time.

"Then I heard something. There was a girl being hurt by some bullies so I rushed to help her. They beat me up and ran away. She thanked me and said her name was Hinata. When I woke up I was alone again.

"There was a cave near the place I was beaten so I went there. It has a freshwater stream so I didn't have to worry about that. But I didn't have food. Or tools. When I woke up the next morning after sleeping on the floor I decided that I had to steal to live, because no one would help me. First I just took a knife, a bit of food and a few blankets. But as each day passed I got more experienced and I found out more things."

Naruto paused as he drank the remains of the ramen in his bowl. He was trying to hide the tears that ran down his face at the beautiful taste. It had been so long since he had tasted anything hot, let alone tasty.

"I learned how to use clay to make things. I stole some books about how to make traps and catch fish. I learned how to make a fire and how to use clay to make cooking pots. I used wood and rope to make a more comfy bed to lie on. It's like a home now.

"I found some smoke bombs after one of the places I stole from. I thought they were sweets until I stepped on one. It gave me an idea though. I started going to 'hiding shops.' You know, the ones that sell lots of tools and lots of food that lasts for a long time. I dropped one on the floor then moved to another place in the shop. So when someone else stepped on it I grabbed lots of food and stuff and ran away.

"People started noticing that I was always in the shop when the smoke happened. I guess it had to happen eventually. So I had to stop stealing for a while, until the food I had collected ran out. It was hard to fish because I didn't have a proper rod or bait. And my traps didn't work much. So eventually I ran out. I lasted for a day until it got too much for me and I knew I had to risk stealing again. So I went to the smallest place I could find, because I figured you wouldn't have an alarm. And you still caught me…"

A shocked silence reigned between them as Ayame considered what he'd told her. It was a miracle that he'd survived for three weeks, and the fact that he'd managed to steal from so many people was amazing. It was all over the news that some of the places that were broken into belonged to shinobi, and the fact that no one was aware of who was doing it showed that young Naruto must be stronger than he realised.

"Naruto, I'm not sure what you mean by 'hiding shops.'" She remarked, after thinking for awhile. She had more or less figured his meaning but wanted to clarify first.

"They're shops, they always have 'hiding' on the door." He said simply, unsure how else to explain it. But it seemed to have been all Ayame needed to hear, as she took out a notebook from across the counter and tore off a new page, showing the boy as she wrote something down.

"Is this what's written on the shops?" She asked, writing a word on the notepad. It was two symbols, and could indeed be read as 'hiding.'

Naruto made a noise of agreement, while nodding his head.

"This can be read in 3 different ways. Did you know that?" She asked. Naruto did not know, so she explained.

"This kanji (忍者) means 'hiding.' But it can also be read as 'sneaking,' or 'shinobi.' 'The hiding shop' you were talking about is actually called a shinobi shop. It's made for the shinobi, or ninjas, that do missions for the hokage. They can buy tools for their missions, and food that won't go rotten if they have to leave the village for a while."

The boy was enraptured by her explanation, and her mention of 'hockagai' caused him to perk up too.

"So a shinobi does missions for jiji?" He asked tentatively. "Then that's what I want to be."

Ayame was about to answer when a gruff voice spoke up from behind them.

"Ayame-chan, long time no see! I'll have a miso ramen if you please."

She turned, taking note of the man behind her, before smiling and nodding.

"Of course, hokage-sama."

* * *

Over the next half an hour, Naruto explained his story once more, this time with Teuchi and the old man listening in. Everyone mostly listened in silence, with the exception of the old man asking him some questions every now and then. What did the matron look like? What did the three bullies look like? Where is the cave? Which places did he steal from?

He seemed particularly angry when he heard of the woman who called him "Kyu-teme" too, and persistently questioned him on her appearance until he was certain just who it was. Unbeknownst to Naruto, that woman would certainly be getting a talking-to, tomorrow.

"Ayame told me about how a shinobi does missions for you, hockagai." Naruto said, after he'd finished his story. "That's what I want to do. I want to be the best shinobi ever!"

He chuckled slightly, before turning to Teuchi.

"I do apologise, it's almost midnight and you still haven't been home!" He exclaimed. "We'll be heading off now. Thank you so much for the ramen, put it on my tab if you will. Young Naruto's can go on my tab too."

With this, he took Naruto gently by the arm, and led him away from the stand.

* * *

"Ho-ka-ge." Hiruzen spelled out, chuckling as Naruto followed along. They were sat up in the hokage office, with Naruto lounging on a sofa in the corner while he got on with his paperwork. He'd tried to convince the boy to get some sleep while he worked, but of course he was much too hyperactive to consider it.

"Soo jiji… how come you're up so late anyway?"

"I have lots of paperwork to do. I could leave it until tomorrow but it means you'll just have to be bored for another day. I'm finding you a house to live in."

Naruto was shocked into silence as he processed what he'd just said. Surely it wasn't that easy?

"Really jiji? A whole house just for me? You're so cool!" He exclaimed, practically jumping up and down with excitement. But it was short lived as reality suddenly brought him back down with a thump.

"But.. I don't have any money. How can I get food?" he asked.

"Don't worry. As long as you promise to go to the academy and try your best, I'll give you an allowance to get things you need. Okay?"

"Of course! I promise!"

* * *

 **Meanwhile…**

[Location unknown.]

"Sir, urgent news." A voice called, breaking the silence. A masked figure was crouched, staring into the shadows. "The routine check on #01753 has come up blank."

 **"Meaning?"** Muttered a second voice, its owner so deep into the shadows that he was barely visible.

"Meaning that the target is no longer where he should be. The source says he was removed three weeks ago."

The voice growled, causing the masked figure to recoil slightly.

 **"No matter."** He replied, after a small break. **"Use your ability, search for him."**

"Hai." Mask replied, before disappearing in a blur.

If there was anyone in the vicinity, they would have felt a spike in killing intent, all leaking from the shadows. But fortunately, he was too far away for it to be an issue right now.

 **'I'll get you eventually.'** He thought, as his arm twitched dangerously. **'You will be my pawn, Uzumaki.'**

 **01753 refers to the call sign that the man has used to refer to him, KITSUNE. It refers to 0 K175UN3.**


End file.
